Nov. 6, 2010: Today my destination was Konosu city in Saitama Prefecture, some 250 kilometers from home. I got to Okabe station on the Takasaki line in 4 cars. The third vehicle was Mr. Mrs. Noda, dentists who live in Kamo City in Niigata Prefecture. Every time I meet a dentist, I always show them my teeth and they exclaim how nice they are. I inherited exceptionally strong teeth from my … Continue reading →
October 24 to Nov. 3, 2010: I hitchhiked 1390 kilometers in 18 vehicles to cities in the Kanto plain (Tokyo and vicinity), Osaka, and then returned home by a different route along the Sea of Japan. As you can see from the map, I didn’t hitchhike the entire distance. On two occasions friends happened to be going toward my destination and gave me a lift, and several times I had … Continue reading →
October 15, 2010: Today was cloudy with light showers from time to time. I needed be in the city of Kumagaya in Saitama Prefecture by 10:30AM the next day for important business. My destination was Noda city in Chiba Prefecture, about 300 kilometers from home. Noda is close to Tokyo to the northeast. From there I would make it in two trains to Kumagaya in plenty of time if I … Continue reading →
On October 8th, 2010, from Sendai, the largest city in the northeastern area of Japan, I hitchhiked in 8 vehicles to the city of Misawa in Aomori Prefecture. Misawa city is host to a US Air Force military base. Yours truly served the Air Force and the government of the United States of America from February 10, 1970, to February 9, 1974. I appreciated the discipline of military life, and … Continue reading →
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1Oct. 6, 2010: Today was one of those “as good as it gets” experiences when hitchhiking in Japan. I traveled on a rainy day in 6 cars some 250 kilometers from Niigata to Sendai, the largest city in the Tohoku area. It was ALL on normal highway! Usually I try to catch cars that are going on the expressway, but I learned from experience that it’s not easy to do … Continue reading →
Oct. 3, 2010: Today I hitchhiked from Sayama City just north of Tokyo back home to Niigata in 6 cars. At first, I had to walk about 45 minutes to get to the highway that goes to the Kan’etsu expressway. After that, a driver in a sports car took me to Kawagoe Interchange. He said his dream was to become an F-10 jet fighter pilot but couldn’t because he would have … Continue reading →
Oct. 1, 2010: Today I hitchhiked from Niigata city to Sayama city, a distance of about 280 kilometers, in only 3 cars. There was very little waiting time for the first two cars, but I had to wait 2 hours for the third and final ride. The driver was only 19 years old and has been driving for only one year. It was very interesting to talk to such a … Continue reading →
September 20, 2010: Today I was in Noshiro City, a town in northern Akita Prefecture, northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. My goal was to hitchhike as much a possible the 330 kilometers back home to Niigata. I ended up hitchhiking nearly a 1/3 of the distance, and this brought me just over the 100,000 kilometer mark since keeping statistics from August 2, 2003! I had hoped to hitchhike … Continue reading →
Today I traveled back home from Toride city in Ibaragi prefecture. At first I took three trains to get to Fujimino station on the Tobu line, the station that is closest to Miyoshi parking area on the Kan’etsu expressway. Normally I would take a bus from the station to get to an even closer point, but I got tired of waiting for the bus and decided to hoof it. It … Continue reading →
Yesterday I had a very smooth trip hitchhiking to Tokyo from Niigata in only two cars. This was an encouragement to me because the previous 3 trips were difficult and caused me considerable discomfort. The first driver was a lady with a 7 week old baby in the car seat in the back. She took me to the Sanjo-Tsubame interchange of the Hokuriku expressway. From there I took a 180 … Continue reading →
Tuesday, August 10, 2010: Today I had another relatively hard experience hitchhiking. The root of the word “hitchhike” comes from “hitch” (to ride) and “hike” (to walk) and today I did a whole lot of walking, more than yesterday. In the beginning it went very well. A lady going to Nagano said she will take me to the Kamisato service area, but as we approached Hanazono, we faced a big … Continue reading →
Monday, August 9, 2010: After an unsuccessful attempt to hitchhike from Suita service area in central Osaka yesterday, today I thought to make it easier on myself by taking a train to Ostsu city in Shiga Prefecture, just on the other side of Kyoto. The Hankyu line is the cheapest train in Japan and it only cost 390 yen to get as far as Kyoto. After searching more than an … Continue reading →
It took me nearly 14 hours today to hitchhike 560 kilometers to Osaka! I got stuck for a period of time at the halfway point in the city of Kanazawa. A parking attendant at Fudoji parking area on the Hokuriku expressway asked me to leave. I walked down to the regular road, hitchhiked to the next big interchange, and got back on the expressway two hours later. The highlight of … Continue reading →
I was invited to do some work for a hotel in the city of Ajigasawa on the northern coast of the Sea of Japan in Aomori Prefecture. The hotel people treated me like a king and served me a dinner of what the Japanese would consider to be a gourmet specialty – half of which was biblically unclean seafood which I couldn’t eat! But the breakfast was fantastic, a smorgasbord … Continue reading →
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1children of a couple who took me to a parking area on the Hokuriku Expressway. Trip 1: From Niigata to Osaka Japan enjoys a string of holidays from April 29 to May 5th known as Golden Week. I took advantage of this time to travel. On May 2, 2010, I hitchhiked to Osaka from Niigata, a distance of 585 kilometers in 10 cars. Five of the cars were married couples … Continue reading →
April 19, 2010: I had intended to hitchhike back home on Sunday morning but stayed in Aomori city in northern Honshu an extra day to deal with a friend’s PC problem. Hitchhiking on a weekend or a holiday is always easier. There are more cars on the road with families traveling longer distances. Weekdays, and especially a Monday mean people traveling for business reasons, and they are usually not in … Continue reading →
